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Page 67
"May it be far from you, most worthy Effendi, ever to experience such
misfortune as my wise donkey foresees on this occasion!"
"What does he foresee?" inquired the borrower.
[Illustration: THE KHOJA AND HIS DONKEY.]
"Broken knees, sore ribs, aching bones, long marches, and short meals,"
said the Khoja.
Then the man looked foolish, and sneaked away without reply.
But the Khoja went back to his pipe.
_Tale_ 41.--The Khoja's Horse.
Once upon a time the Khoja was travelling in company with a caravan,
when they halted for the night at a certain place, and all the horses
were tied up together.
Next morning the Khoja could not for the life of him remember which was
his own horse, and he was much afraid of being cheated if he confessed
this to the rest.
So, as they were all coming out, he seized his bow and arrow, and aimed
among the horses at random.
"Don't shoot!" cried the men; "what is the matter?"
"I am desperate," replied the Khoja; "I am determined to kill somebody's
horse, so let every one look to his own."
Laughing at the Khoja's folly, each man untied his own horse as quickly
as possible, and took it away.
Then the Khoja knew that the one left was his own.
He at once proceeded to mount, but putting his right foot into the
stirrup, he came round with his face to the tail.
"What makes you get up backwards, Khoja?" said his friends.
"It is not I who am in the wrong," said the Khoja, "but the horse that
is left-handed."
_Tale_ 42.--The Khoja on the Bey's Horse.
On a certain occasion Khoja Nasr-ed-Deen went to see the Bey, and the
Bey invited him to go out hunting.
The Khoja agreed, but when they were about to start he found that he had
been mounted on a horse which would not move out of a snail's pace. He
said nothing, however, for it is not well to be too quick in seeing
affronts.
By and by it began to rain heavily. The Bey and the rest of the party
galloped off with all speed towards shelter, and the Khoja was left in
the lurch.
When they were all out of sight the Khoja got down and took off all his
clothes and folded them neatly together, and put them on the saddle.
Then he got up again and sat on his clothes, to keep them dry.
By and by the rain ceased, and the Khoja dressed himself and went
leisurely home. When he reached the Bey's palace all the guests were
assembled, and presently the Bey perceived him and cried out, "Why, here
is the worthy Khoja! And--how extraordinary!--his clothes are not as wet
as ours."
"Why do you not praise the horse on which you mounted me?" answered the
Khoja; "it carried me through the storm without a single thread of my
clothes being wet."
"They must have made a mistake about the horses," thought the Bey to
himself, and he invited the Khoja to go hunting on the following day.
The Khoja accepted, and when the time came he was mounted on the horse
which the Bey had ridden the day before, and the Bey seated himself on
that which had carried the Khoja with dry clothes through the shower.
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